The sound of women's voice

Most of us remember the blockades of the logging access roads at Clayoquot Sound. In the summer of 1993, over ten thousand people flooded the peace camps outside of Tofino. In a matter of months, Clayoquot became both a national embarrassment and a source of activist inspiration.

Shelley Wine is one of the women who drew inspiration from the huge public mobilization against clearcut logging of old growth forest. While sitting in a jail cell in July 1993, after being removed by RCMP from the Women and Children's Blockade Day, Wine decided that the compelling stories of the women who "put their lives in the line" for their commitment to environmental activism must not go untold.

Four years later, Wine's documentary, Fury for the Sound gives us the opportunity to remember Clayoquot and the women who fought for it.

Fury for the Sound encourages both an emotional and intellectual response. If you visited the peace camps that summer, or participated in the blockades, this documentary will remind you of the overwhelming feeling of collective accomplishment and celebratory tension. If you weren't there, Wine's film will make you wonder what the hell you possibly could have been doing that was more important.

As a loud reminder of the accomplishments of "everyday" women, Wine provides us with an incredibly inspiring look at the central role that women activists played at Clayoquot. Every day, women in this country organize, challenge, participate, and otherwise raise hell in the name of social change. All too often, this contribution goes unrecognized within social and political movements.

Wine works to smash this silence with a moving--and motivating--portrayal of the women at Clayquot Sound. Blending passionate personal interviews and footage of the peace camps, blockades, and literally countless arrests of women and children, Fury for the Sound forcefully reminds us of the long and involved history of women's activism within the environmental movement.

Watching this documentary, I was struck by the passionate accounts of politicization experienced by women who chose to participate in civil disobedience. For many of these women, Clayoquot was their introduction to social action. In Fury for the Sound, we are allowed a powerful glimpse into the lives of many of the women who simply reached a point where they could no longer sit silent and inactive. There is much to be learned from these accounts. When do we reach the point where we just can't stand it anymore? When do we make the vital shift from awareness to action?

It was striking to realize the sheer number of women at Clayoquot. Over two thirds of the protesters arrested at Clayoquot--as well as the main organizers of the protests, media campaigns, and social actions--were women.

Wine highlights the feminist organizing principles of the women involved and their commitment to collective action as the "difference between power over and power to make change." What began in Clayoquot as an environmental issue grew to a public outcry over the blatant dismissal of social justice and the democratic process. And the women of Clayoquot were leading the challenge at every step.

This documentary comes at an important time for women activists. Fury for the Sound revives not-so-distant memories of anti-APEC demonstrations and conferences, and the collective urgency felt by women organizers and protesters. Clayoquot activists organized across barriers of age, class, race and political views. Perhaps Wine's account of women's challenge and resistance will help to continue the momentum of public mobilization that witnessed a rebirth during the APEC conference.

I cannot urge you enough to watch this documentary. Its message is clear: each of us has a responsibility to inform ourselves, and to act. As university students, this responsibility is even greater. We have the privilege of access to information, and the freedom to challenge the social status quo. There are important insights to be gained from the courage and the commitment of the women at Clayoquot.

As Valerie Langer, activist and organizer, declared: "You get to the point where you know enough that you give up or you do something about it." Let the hundreds of women and children at Clayoquot that gave their time, energy, and freedom inspire you to resist giving up. There is a long and incredibly powerful history of women's activism in this country. We owe it to ourselves and to the women who have come before us to continue this tradition.

Fury for the Sound: The Women at Clayoquot opens Friday March 6 at the Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville Street. The premiere is a benefit for the Friends of Clayoquot Sound for International Women's Day.

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